LYNN — With both Steffan Gravely and Keoni Gaskin in the Lynn Tech backfield, opposing coaches must know by now they’re in for a headache the week their teams are slated to face the Tigers.
“That’s got to be hard for teams, with both of them on the field,” said Tech coach James Runner after the Tigers ran over, under and through Mystic Valley, 43-6, at their home opener at Manning Field Saturday afternoon. “Teams don’t know who to look for.”
As it turned out Saturday, Gravely was the first option for the Tigers, but it isn’t as if Gaskin sat around and watched. Gravely had 11 carries for 224 yards on the ground, plus a reception good for a 34-yard touchdown.
And Gravely did not limit is domination to offense. The speedy senior had six tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
For his part, Gaskin had 76 yards rushing and seven through the air. And he ran into some bad luck as well, having two touchdown runs called back thanks to penalties on Tech.
“Steffan has been a great part of our program, and he’s a force on the field,” said Runner. “He’s one of the most explosive players we’ve had at Tech, and he’s done great things for our school. He’s a great finisher, and he’s shifty.
“One of the best things that has happened is that this is his fourth year with us,” Runner said. “Our offensive coordinator has been able to come up with a lot of plays to take advantage of his talents.”
Gravely got things rolling for Tech in the first quarter with a 40-yard rush, plus the conversion to give the Tigers the 8-0 lead.
Tech scored twice more in the second period. Quarterback David Barrios (4-for-7, 124 yards, 2 TDs, 36 rushing yards) hit Gravely with a 34-yard pass, but the conversion failed. However, after Gravely ran an electrifyig 67 yards for another touchdown, Elvis Gonzalez ran in the conversion, and Tech had a 22-0 lead.
After Mystic Valley’s Hunter Kreiss caught a 22-yard scoring pass to close the score to 22-6, the Tigers got one back when Barrios struck with a 58-yard scoring pass to Gonzalez, with Jamie James booting the PAT and Tech had a 29-6 lead at the break.
Any thoughts Mystic Valley may have had of climbing back into the game were dashed in a hurry, however, when Guiliani Daniells caught the Eagles’ kickoff on his own 30 and dashed upfield for a 70-yard return for another touchdown to make the score 35-6. Still, the Eagles had a shot to do some more scoring, but were stopped on the Tech 5. Gravely got the call, and made up the 95-yard difference in one move, again electrifying the crowd for a touchdown run.
Safey A.J. Herrera recovered a Mystic Valley fumble in the end zone for the final two points.
“We thought our team was going to be pretty competitive,” Runner said. “We worked hard in the off-season, and we knew we had a lot of starters coming back, especially up front.
“That’s really the heart of our team, the line,” Runner said. “They work well together and it helps the guys behind them do their thing.”
Heading into Friday night’s game at Georgetown (7), the Tigers are relatively healthy.
“Just a lot of bumps and bruises, which is the way football is played,” said Runner. He is, however, concerned about defensive back Marcus Taylor, who may have to miss some action after getting hurt Saturday.
